“Obscenity Lawyer” – My Origin Story

This is my origin story:

I qualified as a solicitor in March 2008 and undertook my first obscenity case that May. A Soho sex-shop vendor faced a serious prison sentence for selling hardcore spanking pornography. I drafted a five page written argument (citing the fetish club Torture Garden at The Heyward Gallery, The photographer Robert Mapplethorpe at The Barbican Gallery, and the performer Angelina Jolie in fetish attire) and submitted it to the Court. I argued that the Internet was responsible for “changing moral standards” towards representations of BDSM. As a consequence the defendant received a suspended prison sentence. That was the first unprecedented result in my legal career.

This result was picked up by Backlash who asked me to volunteer as their pro bono legal advisor. We have been contacted by numerous individuals including: Andrew Holland; Kevin Webster; and the defendant in R v GS - all of whom I represented personally.

In other legal firsts, I was the first lawyer to have one of his criminal trials live-tweeted (Michael Peacock’s #ObscenityTrial); and the first solicitor granted permission to live-tweet a criminal trial that I was representing the defendant in (Simon Walsh’s #PornTrial).

I was awarded the Law Society’s Junior Lawyer of the Year Excellence Award the same year (2012) for my legal work representing sexual subcultures.

I have campaigned against the UK’s obscenity laws saying that “they are 20 years behind social values”; as well as the difference between the age of consent at 16 and the age of majority at 18 which has led to teenagers being criminalised by sexting selfies; and also criticised the Crown Prosecution Service for being “institutionally homophobic”.

I am unique in having dedicated my career to challenging the legal framework by which sexual morality is constrained through activism, litigation and advocacy; by campaigning for the recognition and rights of the BDSM, LGBTQ, Adult-Industry and Sex-Work communities; and lobbying for privacy and freedom of sexual expression for all consenting adults.

My Personal Career Goal

My personal career goal is to challenge the House of Lords’ decision in R v Brown [1993] on the issue of sexual consent to assault, where Lord Templeman claimed that:

“Pleasure derived from the infliction of pain is an evil thing. Cruelty is uncivilized”.

I prefer the provocative film-maker Derek Jarman’s request to:

“Understand that sexuality is as wide as the sea. Understand that your morality is not law”.